Mrs. Merry GordonRoom: C107

ENG 101 – First Year Composition Voice Mail: 623.376.3107

Email: School website:

Official Course Description:Emphasis on rhetoric and composition with a focus on expository writing and understanding writing as a process. Establishing effective college-level writing strategies through four or more writing projects comprising at least 3,000 words in total.

Official Course Prerequisites: Appropriate writing placement test score, or a grade of "C" or better in ENG091 or ESL097.

Official Course Competencies:

  1. Analyze specific rhetorical contexts, including circumstance, purpose, topic, audience, and writer, as well as the writing's ethical, political,and cultural implications.
  2. Organize writing to support a central idea through unity, coherence, and logical development appropriate to a specific writing context.
  3. Use appropriate conventions in writing, including consistent voice, tone, diction, grammar, and mechanics.
  4. Summarize, paraphrase and quote from sources to maintain academic integrity and to develop and support one's own ideas.
  5. Use feedback obtained from peer review, instructor comments and/or other resources to revise writing.
  6. Assess one's own writing strengths and identify strategies for improvement through instructor conference, portfolio review, written evaluation, and/or other methods.
  7. Generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.

Standards and Expectations

Course Requirements:ENG 101 is designed to provide practice in the techniques of organizing and developing academic essays, but the skills and strategies it teaches are general enough to be helpful in any kind of writing. The purpose of this course is to help students write clearly and thoughtfully about any subject; students should expect to give their writing serious effort, revising their work through several stages. While the basic course will present some review material, it assumes that students possess basis skills in English, including the ability to: use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and use basic writing strategies that demonstrate an understanding of sentence structure, clear expression of ideas, and standard English usage.

Assignments:To receive a passing grade in this course, each student will compose a minimum of at least 3,000 words in at least four writing projects (with revisions), weekly journal entries, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Also, students will satisfactorily complete all other class assignments as presented. All major essays must be submitted to Canvas and/or Turnitin.com on/before 7:30am on the assigned due date. If a student fails to submit a paper on the given due date to Canvas and/or Turnitin.com, the student may lose 20 percentage points per school day until the paper is properly submitted.

Grading:

  • Grades are determined as a percentage of total points earned: 90-100=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D and 59% or less =F.
  • No assignments are accepted after the due date. A zero may be recorded for any late assignment.
  • Retakes are not permissible on any quizzes, tests, or exams; however, teacher-selected opportunities for composition revisions and rewrites will be made available.
  • All major essays must be submitted to Canvas and/or Turnitin.com on/before 7:30am on the assigned due date. If a student fails to submit a paper on the assigned due date the student may lose 20 percentage points per school day until the paper is properly submitted.

Attendance Standards:Since full and active participation is essential to success in this course, full attendance is required. Students are not allowed to miss more than six class periods per semester. Upon the 7th absence, the student may lose college credit. Additionally,

  1. If a student is suspended (whether on campus or off campus) the days may count against his/her overall attendance.
  2. All college visits and college orientations are personal extra-curricular decisions and will not be exempted from the dual enrollment attendance policy. Please plan accordingly.
  3. Sweep is counted as an absence.

Absences:After an absence, a student has one school day for each day missed to make up work/tests, regardless of the number of days absent. If many days were missed, please schedule an appointment with me to formulate a plan for the completion of make-up work. Make-up work for extended absences (over 3 days) may be requested through the Counseling Office and picked up there.

Report Cards:In an effort to conserve resources and harness the capacity of our electronic grade reporting program (PowerSchool) district schools will no longer print hard copies of report cards unless requested by individual parents. To request a hard copy of your student’s report card, please contact the front office at 623-376-3000. To receive your PowerSchool login, please stop into the office with a valid photo ID.

Power School Online Access: Grades and attendance may be accessed 24 hours a day online with your Power School access code. Access codes are available in the Counseling Office or Front Desk Monday – Friday 7:00 AM– 3:30 PM. You may check student progress regularly on the PowerSchool site using the same login for one or more students. For Mountain Ridge parents/guardians without home computer access, a computer with guest log-in capability is available in the Counseling Conference Room.

Academic Assistance/Office Hours:In addition to the Academic Prep times built into our schedule each week, additional assistance/tutoring is provided on a weekly basis both by MRHS and individually by instructors. These office hours will be posted in my classroom, website, and/or Canvas at the start of each week. I will demonstrate to the students how to find my availability each week.

Daily Device Use (iPads):Students should come to school with their iPads charged and ready to use in each class every day.

Devices may not be used to record or take photos of other people without their consent. Consequences for classroom disruptions and misuse of devices will follow a progressive discipline model, beginning with a phone call home and progressing to office referrals for repeated or more serious offenses. See the Student Rights and Responsibilities consequence chart in the handbook for more specific descriptions of infractions and consequences.

Time Requirement:You will need to dedicate significant time to this college course. For each credit hour, plan to spend at least two hours a week on homework in addition to class presentation time.

Extra Credit Policy:Extra Credit is not available for this class. It is the belief of Rio Salado College that all work done for a class should receive regular credit and is more than sufficient to assess the understanding of material presented in the course.

Plagiarism Warning:Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use of paraphrase or direct quotation of the published or unpublished work of another person without full and clear acknowledgment. It also includes the unacknowledged use of materials prepared by another person or agency engaged in the selling or sharing of term papers or other academic materials. Information gathered from the Internet and not properly identified is also considered plagiarism. We expect every student to produce his/her original, independent work. Any student whose work indicates a violation of the MCCCD Academic Misconduct Policy (including cheating and plagiarism) can expect sanctions as specified in the college catalog (2.3.11), or online at the following site: Salado College uses software that uncovers plagiarism from student to student and other data sources on the Internet. If a student is found to have plagiarized content, grade consequences will be applied in accordance with departmental policies.

Civility Policy:The faculty of Rio Salado place a high value on the importance of general ethical standards of academic behavior and expect that communication between students and instructors or among students shall maintain the level of formality and mutual respect appropriate to any college teaching/learning situation. Language or behavior that is rude, abusive, profane, disruptive, or threatening will not be tolerated. Activity of this type is Academic Misconduct as defined in MCCCD Policy AR 2.3.11. Students engaging in such behavior will be removed from the course with a failing grade. Additional sanctions may be applied pursuant to AR 2.3.11.

Refund Policy:Refunds are not automatic. Students who drop courses within the refund period are eligible for a reimbursement of appropriate tuition and fees. Please see the refund policy online for deadlines and details.

Disability Statement:Rio Salado College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Notify Disability Services and Resources and your instructor of any special needs. Contact Disability Services and Resources at (480) 517-8562.
Tuition Assistance is available to students enrolled in a Rio Salado College dual enrollment course who demonstrate financial need. Please refer to:
The student is responsible for the information outlined in the syllabus. The student is also responsible for knowing the Rio Salado College policies in the college catalog and the student handbook. Please refer to: